A Wry and Realistic View of Dating at Sixty
Today I had a delicious lunch in the cafe, our havarti and ham melt special. Then I had a chance to read an essay by Andree Aelion Brooks, who proved herself a witty, saucy and clever woman when it comes to men. Her point? That at her age, it’s best […]
April Will be Packed with Air Miles and New Travel Adventures
Outside a giant woodpecker is chomping suet at Cindy’s feeder. He is so big he can barely fit on the feeder, as he gulps down big bites of fat. It is still frustratingly cold, hovering at 35 degrees, and we are about to go out and do our Saturday chores. […]
To Build, Or Not to Build–Or Let’s Keep Looking
Yesterday my friend Jack took me to see four houses that are on the market here in our neighborhood. It was instructional, and it came after I told Jack and his wife Laura about my grandiose scheme to build a huge addition onto our little house on Mountain Road in […]
Persepolis Shows The Power of Shapely Eyes
Funny how when some people come to visit, I finally get out and do some of the things I really enjoy. Like go see a movie in a theater. Sam is visiting, so we went to an evening show of Persepolis, an animated movie in French about an Iranian girl.The […]
Chez Albert Is What a Restaurant Should Be
What makes a restaurant really special? Is it the way it feels when you walk in? Is it the lighting, the music, or is it the guy who greets you in French? Last night I discovered it’s all of these things as we celebrated Cindy’s birthday at Chez Albert in […]
"We All Thought We Were Going to Die"
Tonight as I dined on salad with roast chicken with my son in law Francisco, he told me about a terrible moment on Saturday night as he flew from Miami to Hartford on a Southwest Airlines flight. “I’ve never said that to myself before,” he said excitedly. “I actually thought […]
Dolphin Leads Whales Back to Safety in NZ
Today from Reuters came a tale of animal wisdom from one of my favorite places in the world. “Moko the dolphin, a regular visitor to the coast of Mahia on the east Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, became an instant hero after leading two pygmy whales that had repeatedly […]
The Prodigy Who’s Taking Formula One by Storm
I was traveling once with a fun guy named Kevin McCarthy, who with his wife Sue does a weekly travel radio show. I asked him what his favorite sport was, and he replied ‘open wheel racing.’ It took me a second to realize what he was talking about was F1, […]
He Thought They’d Send Him Back–But Was He Ever Wrong!
To Charles Robert Jenkins, five decades of his life were all a mistake. That’s because when at age 20 as a sergeant serving in Korea, he thought if he could just jump over to the North Korean side, they would pick him up and send him back home to North […]
At 80, He Was All A-flutter Over Victoria
In Today’s Daily Mail, I read a long story about the legendary editor and journalist Bill Deedes, who left a trail of stories, a bitter family, and an aura of mystery when he died at 94. His legacy was of an indifferent grandparent, lousy husband, devoted friend and brilliant writer. […]
Battling Snow Rage, Where the Drifts Are Too High
Snow rage…it’s a new term that I found on Reuters today. I well remember walking into the wind, snow blowing so hard when I visited Quebec City in February. From the dispatch… ‘Last Sunday, a man in an upscale Quebec City neighborhood became so upset a woman from a snow […]
There’s a Wheat Shortage, Haven’t You Heard?
Last night at Costco, we heard that they are rationing 50 pound bags of wheat. “If somebody wants to buy more than a few bags, they check to see how many they usually buy and if it’s too high they can’t get it,” the cashier told us. She didn’t know […]
You Play Poker Here, You Buy My Pizza–Or Else!
In Hatfield, there used to be a pizza shop called Mama Maria’s. The owner was in the Daily Hampshire Gazette yesterday after being charged with holding a poker game and wielding a knife when some of the players broke his rules. It was a simple and fair arrangement. They’d play […]
Ideo Field Guides: A Stand-out Among Travel Books
I get sent a lot of stuff because people want us to write about them on the website. As these gifts pile up, I notice clearly the ones that I care about and those that I don’t. I must say that today’s Fedx parcel exceeded my expectations, and both surprised […]
Chasing Battery Life, the Holy Grail of Electric Cars
We turned on the new lights at the cafe this morning, beaming a gloriously bright light at the sleepy hour of 6 am when it still feels like 5 am, dark, cloudy. I hope that when people drive by and see those big lights on they will notice the cafe […]
In Guinea, Students Scramble for Any Available Light
Here is part of an AP story from a while back about how students have to find sources of light to read to study for exams. “CONAKRY, Guinea – The sun has set in one of the world’s poorest nations and as the floodlights come on at G’bessi International Airport, […]
The Battle of the Sexes
Last night we had a battle of the sexes. We are visiting Kent and Lisa and after Kent prepared a lovely dinner for Dennis and Denise and Cindy and I, we took out their new 2008 edition of Trivial Pursuit. This new game has all new questions and some of […]